Effects of FOXO1 on the proliferation and cell cycle-, apoptosis- and steroidogenesis-related genes expression in sheep granulosa cells

•We cloned the coding sequence of sheep FOXO1 gene firstly and the gene encoded a protein with 608 amino acid residues.•Knockdown of FOXO1 mRNA with small interfering RNA promoted sheep granulosa cells proliferation.•FOXO1 can regulate the transcriptional level of genes related to apoptosis, cell cycle and steroidogenesis in sheep GCs.